Schooling Challenges the Public to a 200m Butterfly with 10 Sec Head Start; Winner Will Get a Boss Suit

By
Zhi Hao
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It all started with a local marathoner’s challenge: run 2.4km in under seven minutes, and he’ll give you S$700 in cash as well as stacks of sports drinks.

Lest you’ve yet to read about it, you can peruse more here.

Things then escalated when a local chicken rice boss doubled down on the bet, offering 700 additional packets of chicken rice to the hypothetical winner.

S$700 in cold hard cash, 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat and 700 packets of chicken rice?

We’re not inside a gym fanatic’s wet dream, are we?

But before you prep your running shoes, it seems that over in the swimming circle, a local legend has issued a challenge of his own.

Schooling Challenges the Public to a 200m Butterfly with 10 Sec Head Start; Winner Will Get a Boss Suit

Just yesterday (10 September 2021), Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling added his two cents’ worth to Soh Rui Yong’s viral post.

Though instead of simply choosing a side, Schooling decided to go for something more:

To issue a challenge of his own.

In a comment, the local swimmer expressed that he will be doubling down on Soh’s bet:

He will be giving hopeful participants a 10 second head start in a 200m Butterfly race.

And for the winner’s prize?

A spanking new Boss suit.

Image: Instagram (runsohfast)

So ideally if you can run and swim fast…

You could just feast on 700 packets of chicken rice in a Boss suit.

What a fea(s)t that would be.

But of course, it’s easier said than done.

Disapproving

Yet, though some netizens amiably took up the challenge, a few weren’t quite as acceptant.

One in particular questioned why Schooling didn’t issue the challenge to his competitors in the last Olympics instead.

“What pride is there in winning sportsmen?” a Netizen asked.

And another commenter concurred.

“It’s quite unnecessary/uncalled for, what the both of you are doing,” another netizen said. “Our best National athletes issuing challenges on social media to fellow countrymen.”

In response, Schooling simply framed it as a matter of perspective, saying that it’s essentially just “healthy competition.”

Meanwhile, Soh called the first Netizen out for being angry at a seemingly once in a blue moon opportunity.

It should be noted, however, that not everyone disapproved of the challenges.

Many netizens have cheered Soh on, calling for him to prove his doubters wrong once and for all.

Others have also taken up Schooling’s challenge, though they appear to be less than convinced of their own chances.

One did, however, have a contingency plan in mind.

“Woah! Challenge accepted!” the netizen wrote.

“I just want to swim with an Olympic champion, even though the outcome is certain haha. But can I interview you during the 200m?”

How It All Started

To get to that point, we would have to travel back in time… to last Saturday.

So last Saturday (4 Sep), Soh actually completed a 2.4km run in just 6 minutes and 53.18 seconds at the Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km Challenge.

Not a small feat by any means, seeing how he’s reportedly the first Singaporean to break the 7 minute mark for a 2.4km run.

A few days later, he detailed his achievement in a Facebook post, along with his split times for each 400m lap.

However, it wasn’t his timings that had netizens talking.

At the end of his post, Soh included a line that rubbed some people the wrong way.

“Somehow, some people still think their “army/commando bmt mate who smokes” ran faster,” he wrote, adding a clown emoji at the end.

Some commenters took offense at the post, with one pointing out that there are many national athletes, including commandos, who have done the same thing but are “humble” and see no need to “show” off.

In a follow-up post, Soh clarified that the statement was not targeted at commandos specifically.

He explained that he was simply making a reference to “myths” that some circulate about runners in the army who happen to smoke.

However, Soh maintained that Commandos would not be capable of 2.4km-timings under 7 minutes, and that Singapore’s best long-distance runners would find it difficult as well.

But as a “gesture of goodwill”, as Soh described it, he offered runners who think they can beat his time the following incentive:

“Any Singaporean who runs sub-7:00 for 2.4km at next month’s Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km Run (Ground Race, 9-10 Oct) will receive $700 and 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat, both paid for by me,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s easy to make extraordinary claims without proof. Let’s settle the debate once and for all.”

You can view the Facebook post down below:

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Featured Image: Instagram (runsohfast)

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]